It is one of the classic model organisms in insect physiology: its size makes it easy to dissect and instrument, and many aspects of insect metamorphosis, flight and nervous system were first studied in it.
From Carolina Sphinx
Its caterpillar sequesters the nicotine from tobacco and exhales it through lateral pores, which drives off the wolf spiders that would prey on it: a literal case of defensive bad breath.
From Carolina Sphinx
The adults feed while hovering and pollinate long-tubed night-flowering plants, with which they have coevolved.
From Carolina Sphinx
It remembers the position of the flowers it has already visited and returns to the same plants at the same time on successive days, a spatial memory remarkable for an insect.
From Humming-bird Hawk-moth
It is migratory: every spring whole populations cross from southern Europe and North Africa towards the centre and north of the continent.
From Humming-bird Hawk-moth
Its resemblance to a hummingbird is a case of convergent evolution: two entirely unrelated lineages have arrived at the same solution for feeding while hovering.
From Humming-bird Hawk-moth
It can produce an audible squeak by forcing air out through its proboscis, something unique among butterflies and moths.
From Death's-head Hawk-moth
It enters hives to steal honey: it mimics the chemical make-up of the bees' scent, so that they do not recognise it as an intruder, and its thick cuticle withstands the stings it does receive.
From Death's-head Hawk-moth

Ecosystems